Last night, September 13, 2011, the State of Texas carried out its 10th execution of the year. Steven Woods was put to death for the 2001 murders of Ronald Whitehead and Bethena Brosz in Denton County.
According to an Urgent Action from Amnesty International, the co-defendant in the case – Marcus Rhodes – reached a plea agreement with the prosecution in which he pleaded guilty to having personally shot both the victims, was sentenced to life imprisonment, and transferred to California, where he was facing charges for a murder committed before the Texas killings. Rhodes was sentenced to 25 years to life imprisonment for that murder. He is currently serving his life sentences in prison in Texas.
Despite pleas from the surviving shooting victim, a prosecutor from the original trial, and many others, the execution of Duane Buck remains scheduled for tomorrow evening (September 15, 2011).
Read more from The Atlantic (“Coming Thursday: Another Texas Execution Under Perry,” September 13, 2011) and in previous blog posts.